Predictors of Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Abuse
← Voluntary euthanasia | Culture and Health → |
Every year, a significant number of young people die from exposure to and abuse of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs against the huge cost that are invested into projects that have the aim of reducing these numbers. 400000 Americans die every year of smoking and smoking related conditions, in fact one of every 5 deaths in America is assumed to be smoking related (National Center for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2011). Alcohol was no lesser a threat over in 1992, it was estimated that about $400billion was the amount wasted or lost to alcohol addiction. Other costs include chronic disease conditions like cirrhosis, criminal or antisocial behavior that might be a consequence of trading or acquisition of illegal chemical substances. These substances use or abuse lead to an increase in risky behavior (Galea, Nandi & Vlahov, 2004).
Charity they say begins at home, the predisposition for young people to take up the habits of alcohol and drug abuse can be increased multiple folds by the kinds of families they live in or come from. As it is often the case many of these children turn out to be alcohol and drug abusers themselves as this is the kind of life they have been exposed to (Clinton, Clark & Straub, 2010). It often proves to be the case because this is the kind of lifestyle they have been exposed to. Parental use or abuse of alcohol is a significant indicator of future use and abuse of drugs and alcohol. Studies on family incidence of alcohol have shown that alcoholics in a very significant number are likely to come from families where a sibling and or a parent displayed alcohol abuse (Cotton, 1979). In addition, parental attitudes to alcohol have shown links to adolescent’s use of alcohol. Stable families often produce children who are unlikely to be alcohol abusers. The divorce rate in the United States has gone up in the last 35years; the effect of this is that most families break up before the kids become adults. The strain that this puts on the divorced party has been known to cause negative alcohol behavior. A study carried out showed that the children from recently broken homes exhibited a higher tendency to consume alcohol in larger quantities and more frequently than children from stable homes. It might not be unconnected with the huge amount of stress resulting from the breakup of their families. As a result, the children will turn to alcohol as a stress reliever and with little or no supervision can go into binge drinking and go downhill from there (Jeynes, 2001).
While families will always play a massive role in how children turn out to be as well as the decisions and choices they ultimately make, peer pressure and the relationships that exist outside of the family play an important role in the likelihood of children choosing to abuse drugs and alcohol. As children grow into adolescents their friends assume positions of greater influence in their lives and there is consistent literature evidence that having friends that use or abuse alcohol and other drugs is often a powerful indicator of the possibility of exhibiting abuse of similar substances. Speaking specifically, marijuana consumption by adolescent peers significantly increased the tendency to abuse of the drug. It has been shown that friends are the most significant factor in initiating marijuana abuse among young people (Ramirez, Hinman et al, 2011). A fact is that it is enabled by coming from less a supportive family. The influence of peers increases very much in adolescent years it is safe to say that at certain periods of adolescence the sway that friends have over young people equals or exceeds that of the family. While this may be so, the influence of the family and friends in the life and decisions of adolescents are quite interrelated. Another equally telling indicator is the presence of a sibling or close relative that abuses drugs or is an alcoholic in such cases the chances of having alcohol or drug related problems are improved. The presence of a stable family without any drug or alcohol problem significantly reduces the possibility of having friends with problems with drugs or alcohol.
The relationship between the environment where adolescents grow up and their drug and alcohol use is important. For the most part children who come from middle class to low-income class families have a higher tendency to abuse drugs and or alcohol. This tendency increases appreciably if the person is from a racial minority. Children from middle-class families although exposed to alcohol and mind altering substances show a tendency to outgrow these sorts of behavior probably due to a lack of exposure in their immediate environment and assumption of new social roles due in no small part to the availability of options that their social status affords them. For the lower class families, these sorts of options are not common-place and most of them move from being dependents to providers in a few years. There is also the issue of social pressure or doing what is popular in one’s environment, or in other cases, what is available (Schensul & Burkholder, 2005).
In addition to all of the aforementioned, personal vulnerability is a very important factor. Personal vulnerability is a function of character, personality and the advantages and pressures of one’s social status. In the light of this, African American and Latino young people form the important demographic that constitutes the must drug-vulnerable class of adolescents because a greater percentage of young people from these racial groups come from low-income class families and do not have the social and family stability available to middle class families. The immediate environment of these income groups experience very little censure of alcohol and narcotics as these substances are, relatively speaking, readily available.
All in all, a person will ultimately be a product of their environment. The family rather obviously plays the largest part in the choices that an adolescent will make because it provides the template for the interaction of the young person with his/her environment. It determines, to some extent, the kind of social interactions available to the person and the amount of influence the society has eventually on the choices and decisions they make.
- Culture and Health
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Voluntary euthanasia
- Universal Health Care in the USA
![]() |
Kathy M.
Las Cruces, NM
|
|
To EssaysEmpire.com: Thank you for my outstanding paper. When I read it, I knew that I would get an A+ on it. Also, thanks for adding all of the pertinent details that I asked you to customize. You did a brilliant job. Just brilliant. |
![]() |
Mia W.
Amherst, MA
|
|
Dear EssaysEmpire.com, I would like to put in a good word for Writer #32412. He was really under the gun. I didn’t give him much notice because I had my dates mixed up and my paper was due sooner than I expected. He didn’t let me down, though. He wrote until the paper was perfected. I handed it in on time got an A+ and wish your writers could accept tips, because I would leave this guy a HUGE one! |
![]() |
Nancy T.
Little Rock, AR
|
|
The quality of the work produced by your professional writers is second to none. No wonder you have the reputation for being the best writing service online! You certainly met up to all of my expectations! You’re the best, for sure. |
![]() |
Phoebe K.
Madison, CT
|
|
I find your writing company to be professional, proficient and perfect. Your papers are always so good! They make good reading, in addition to being well written assignments. I can tell your writers really know their stuff! |
![]() |
Pierre W.
Memphis, TN
|
|
There are four things that I look for in a good writing service. #1. They have to be fast. A good writing service won’t miss an important deadline. #2. A good writing service will let customers actually talk to the writer who is working on their customer’s papers, so the customer can work out important details. #3. A good writing service will have a user-friendly website that is easy for the customer to use and #4, a good writing service will offer quality guarantees. EssaysEmpire.com meets all of this criteria and more. EssaysEmpire.com is the best writing service and has the reputation to prove it. I wouldn’t even consider using another writing service since experiencing the excellence that is EssaysEmpire.com! |
![]() |
Mike G.
Rochester, NY
|
|
Your writing service is different from other writing services. Yours is the only one I have ever dealt with that I can truthfully say is legitimate. The staff is very professional. The writers are the best in the business. I am pleased with the results of my last three orders and plan to return for more soon. |
![]() |
Jeff M.
Baltimore, MD
|
|
I would like to commend your excellent writers for a job well done. They followed my directions to a tee. Thank you, EssaysEmpire.com for being who you are and for doing what you do. There is no better writing service anywhere. |
![]() |
Willow P.
Park City, UT
|
|
You guys do top-notch work. Time after time, I have had to rely on your help and I can say honestly that you have never let me down. Thank you so much for coming through for me every time. I am not a good writer. I try. I study hard, but when I need help, you are always there to give it to me at an affordable price. |
![]() |
Quincy S.
Cambridge, MA
|
|
You guys did a super job on my paper. The work definitely exceeded my expectations and eased my anxiety. This was the first time I had hired a writing service. The transaction was seamless. I would use you guys again in a heartbeat! No questions asked. You’re the best, hands down. |
![]() |
Kyle N.
Tempe, AZ
|
|
Dear Sirs: I have just placed my third order from EssaysEmpire.com this term. I feel confident that my paper will be written on time and that the quality of it will be out of the ballpark. The first two papers I ordered from you got A+ marks, and I know this one will, too. It is so great to be able to sit back and concern myself with my reading and exams while you do the difficult writing projects for me. That is really great. You guys are a class act! |
![]() |
Hannah B.
Tulsa, OK
|
|
I am happy. I am happy because I got an A+ on my research paper. I did this by hiring the professional writers at EssaysEmpire.com to write it for me. It was everything I had hoped it would be. Thanks, EssaysEmpire.com! |
![]() |
Sarah H.
Brooklyn, NY
|
|
As always, I can count on EssaysEmpire.com to never let me down. I had to place an emergency order and was worried that I had not given the writer enough time to do a good job. I was wrong. They did a tremendous job! Thanks ever so much! |
![]() |
Sylvia S.
Ardmore, OK
|
|
Dear EssaysEmpire.com, Over the last couple of years, I have used your writing service for a total of five times. I have never had the same writer twice, but I have had excellent results with the writers who were assigned to my projects. I could easily recommend you guys. You’re the greatest! |
![]() |
Enrico V.
San Diego, CA
|
|
I was really happy about the speedy turn around time for my paper. It is rare to find a writing service that can write things so quickly without taking away from their quality. Hats off to EssaysEmpire.com! |
![]() |
Beverly S.
Cambridge, MA
|
|
I appreciate the help your wring service gave me with my biology paper. I have never cared much for biology. It is a tough subject for me to grasp. This is why I needed so much help with my paper. The writer absolutely understood the whole topic and turned out work that would have made anyone proud. Thanks a million for the great paper. |
![]() |
Kris K.
San Francisco, CA
|
|
I would like to say thanks to writer #48376 for doing such an astonishing job on my paper. I really gave him very little to go on. Still, he was able to do the research and come up with a champion paper for me. I am speechless. I didn’t expect anything nearly this good. |
![]() |
Della M.
Belfast, IR
|
|
I had to turn on my laptop for the express purpose of writing to you. I had to let you know what lifesavers you people are! I had never even considered hiring a professional writer to help me and was almost resigned to dropping out of school altogether. Then, I thought about it, and asked myself what it would hurt to try EssaysEmpire.com for just one paper. That paper was written astonishingly well! From that one paper, I learned many of the things that I did not know about writing. It was perfect, so I learned all about formatting in the APA style. I learned a lot, so I want to thank you for that. |
![]() |
Celine H.
Calistoga, CA
|
|
Thanks for doing a great job on a paper that was an important part of my semester. You guys rock! |
![]() |
Rob B.
Tulsa, OK
|
|
I needed APA formatting, EssaysEmpire.com’s writers gave me APA formatting. I needed 2000 words. EssaysEmpire.com’s writers gave me 2000 words. I needed an A+ on my paper to bring up my GPA. EssaysEmpire.com gave me a paper that got an A+. I am a happy person, thanks to EssaysEmpire.com! |
![]() |
Celeste H.
San Francisco, CA
|
|
EssaysEmpire.com always gives me a plagiarism report to prove that the work they wrote for me is authentic. I appreciate this. It helps eliminate worry. |